Obama makes his case… He does it by setting up the choice, trying to turn Romney into a punch line, and arguing that now isn’t the time to change horses… Who won the last two weeks? Hard not to conclude that it was Obama and the Dems… But who won the jobs report? Hard not to think it was Romney and the GOP... The economy added 96,000 jobs but unemployment rate drops to 8.1%...  What Obama accomplished and didn’t accomplish… Romney’s new TV ad blitz… And both Obama and Romney stump in Iowa and New Hampshire.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It probably won’t go down as one of his most memorable or poetic addresses, but President Obama’s acceptance speech last night served several purposes -- it attempted to rally his base, tried to take advantage of the opening his opponent left for him, and it looked to define the election as a choice. Motivating his supporters two months before Election Day, Obama said, “If you turn away now, if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn't possible, well, change will not happen. If you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void.” He seized on Romney not mentioning Afghanistan last week, and he devoted a larger-than-expected share of the night to national security. “My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy, but from all that we've seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly.” And after Romney’s very nostalgic speech that focused on the past, Obama’s address concentrated mostly on the future. “Our challenges can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And I'm asking you to choose that future.”

*** Setting up the choice, turning Romney into a punch line, and arguing that now isn’t the time to change horses: Obama did a few more things in his speech. He attempted to make the case this is a choice election, using the words “choice” or “choose” more than 20 times. “The choice you face won’t just be between two candidates or two parties. It will be a choice between two different paths for America.” He tried to turn Romney into a punch line. “You don't call Russia our number one enemy -- and not al Qaeda -- unless you're still stuck in a Cold War time warp,” he said. “You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can't visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally.” And Obama argued that now isn’t the time to change horses. “The truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades. It will require common effort, shared responsibility.” 

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. President Barack Obama waves on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena on September 6, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

*** Who won the last two weeks? The answer: Obama and the Dems:  Last week, the consensus was that Mitt Romney gave a good speech for Romney... Today, some are judging Obama on not meeting the height of past speeches, as well as this week’s other addresses by Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton. But when you compare Romney’s speech with Obama’s and the GOP convention vs. the Dem convention, it’s easy to conclude that Obama and the Democrats won the past two weeks. Indeed, maybe the best way to judge the Democratic convention isn’t by Obama’s speech last night but rather by the whole three days. You saw the building up of Obama the man by Michelle; the contrast and the economic narrative from Bill Clinton; and the way forward from Obama. Another way to look at it -- Michelle put down the building blocks, Clinton put up the walls, and Obama put on the roof. Beyond a concerted effort to make Romney more likeable, you didn’t see the same thing last week in Tampa. And now we head to the post-convention polls, and perhaps the best way to look at any bounce isn’t by the head-to-head numbers, but rather by what each side set out to do. So for Romney, let’s look to see if his favorability numbers increase. And for Obama, let’s see if those enthusiasm/interest numbers go up.  

*** Who won the jobs report? The answer: Romney and the GOP: But the last two weeks aren’t over, and that brings us to today’s other big story: the August job numbers. The economy added 96,000 jobs, which was below expectations. But the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3% to 8.1%. It was four years ago when, the morning after Barack Obama’s acceptance speech in Denver, John McCain announced his selection of Sarah Palin, which quickly changed the story. And history repeats itself today with another big story -- the monthly jobs coming -- coming the morning after Obama’s acceptance speech here last night. Expect the job numbers to be the backdrop of Obama and Romney both criss-crossing between Iowa and New Hampshire today, with the president stumping in the Granite State first and then heading to the Hawkeye State, while Romney starts in Iowa and ends in New Hampshire. 

*** What Obama accomplished (and what he didn’t): Returning to Obama’s speech last night, we listed four challenges that he needed to meet. First, convince viewers his economic policies are better than Romney’s. On that score, he definitely made the case that the Romney/GOP approach on tax cuts, less regulation isn’t the way to go. But he didn’t persuasively argue that his approach is the best. (However, Clinton probably made that point for him the night before.) Second, describe how he would break the partisan fever in Washington. But he didn’t address this at all, and it might have been the speech’s biggest shortcoming (although one of his messages last night was how the bottom up can create change). Third, lay out what he could achieve in a second term. On that score, Obama pointed to several concrete -- if not necessarily new -- things. Examples: boost manufacturing by rewarding companies that create jobs in the U.S., recruit 100,000 new math and science teachers in the next 10 years, reduce debt based on the principles of the Simpson-Bowles commission. And fourth, rekindle enthusiasm and excitement, which might have turned out to be the biggest accomplishment from his speech and the three-day convention. 

*** Romney’s new ad blitz: Meanwhile, not too long after Obama finished his remarks last night, the Romney campaign unveiled 15 new TV ads in eight battleground states. Here’s a sampling of these new ads -- on the looming defense cuts, on the deficit/debt, and on standing up to China. But here’s perhaps the biggest conclusion from these new TV ads: The eight states don’t include Michigan, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin. Rather they’re the usual Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. After all the conventions, after all the advertising, and after all the events of the past few months, the battleground hasn’t changed. If Romney concedes Wisconsin to the president, Romney would win seven of these eight battleground states and still lose the Electoral College if he loses Florida. Think about that… 

*** On the trail: Obama departs Charlotte on Air Force One at 10:00 am ET and holds a rally in Portsmouth, NH at 12:20 pm ET (with Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, and Jill Biden), and they hold another rally in Iowa City, IA at 6:20 pm ET… Romney stumps in Orange City, IA at 1:00 pm ET and then rallies in Nashua, NH at 7:10 pm ET… Paul Ryan campaigns in Nevada… And Ann Romney hits Leesburg, VA.

*** Romney to appear on “Meet”: On Sunday, NBC’s David Gregory will interview Romney on “Meet the Press.”

Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 26 days
Countdown to VP debate: 34 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 39 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 45 days
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After nearly four years in office, President Barack Obama asked America on Thursday night to give him a second term, in a speech reaching back to the touchstone of "hope and change" that propelled him to the White House in 2008, while also acknowledging the unfinished work in achieving that promise.

In his formal acceptance speech, the president embraced the contrast that his party had tried to draw between himself and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney throughout this week’s Democratic National Convention. Obama said the GOP only offered voters the “same prescription they’ve had for the last thirty years,” and laid out policies that he said would move America in the direction of Obama’s campaign theme: “Forward.”

"I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed ... I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the president," Obama told the crowd at Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena, where his speech was moved after weather concerns disrupted plans for an outdoor event.

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

“But as I stand here tonight, I have never been more hopeful about America,” the president added, in a line emblematic of his efforts to once again stir enthusiasm in his candidacy.

The speech capped a convention designed to reignite enthusiasm with Obama’s winning voting coalition from 2008, including dozens of speeches paying testament to the president’s character and condemning Romney in the same breath.

Chris Keane / Reuters

President Barack Obama addresses the final session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina September 6, 2012.

On foreign policy, for instance, Obama ridiculed Romney as inexperienced and naïve.

“After all, you don’t call Russia our number one enemy – and not al Qaida – unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War time warp,” he said. “You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally.”

Related: Four challenges for Obama

The Democratic convention this week was constructed in part to rebut last week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., during which Romney seized on disappointment in Obama after four years, and argued “the time has come to turn the page.”

Convention speeches have served as major milestones for Obama in his path to the White House. His 2004 keynote speech as a Senate candidate rocketed him to national stardom, and Obama’s 2008 speech as the Democratic presidential nominee helped propel him to victory.

On Thursday evening, Obama nodded toward the disillusionment of the high-soaring rhetoric of his last campaign, but said that he was still moved by the “hope” that animated his 2008 bid, and asked for more time to achieve his goals.

“You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth,” he said. “And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades.”

Republicans, including Romney, have made issue of that tarnished sense of hope. The GOP nominee, who said he didn’t plan to watch Obama’s speech, nonetheless expected it to dwell on “forgotten promises.” Romney’s campaign manager said Obama’s speech had only made “the case for more of the same policies that haven't worked for the past four years.”

But tonight’s acceptance speech was characteristic of a convention that devoted much of its energy to building up Obama and knocking down Romney.

Vice President Joe Biden's speech earlier in the evening was, in many ways, a warm-up act for the president, with Biden serving as the "character witness" for Obama.

The vice president hailed Obama's "gutsy" decisions, from rescuing the auto industry to ordering the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. And he made the case that the both of them had more work to do in a second term.

"We know we have more work to do. We know we’re not there yet. But not a day has gone by in the last four years when I haven’t been grateful that Barack Obama is our president," said Biden, “because he always has the courage to make the tough decisions.”

Biden also assumed the more traditional role for a vice president by going aggressively after Romney and his ticket-mate Paul Ryan -- keeping with the constant stream of scrutiny leveled toward the Republican duo at this week's convention.

"Folks, the 'Bain Way' may bring your firm the highest profits," said Biden, referring to the private equity firm Romney had co-founded, experience from which the GOP nominee cites as a chief credential. "But it’s not the way to lead our country from the highest office."

The notion of conviction was also a theme in Sen. John Kerry’s foreign policy-oriented speech earlier in the evening.

The 2004 Democratic presidential nominee said Romney “hasn’t learned the lessons of the past decade,” referring to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan initiated by President George W. Bush. Kerry also accused Romney of reversing himself and being inconsistent in criticizing Obama’s handling of Afghanistan and Libya.

“Talk about being for it before you were against it,” exclaimed Kerry, riffing on the infamous line from his 2004 campaign that fueled charges that Kerry – like Romney now – was a “flip-flopper.”

Obama’s speech – along with Romney’s last week – marked a turning point in the 2012 campaign, which now heads into its most intense leg leading up through Election Day. Convention speeches are regarded as some of the few opportunities for candidates to affect the trajectory of the race, though it will take days, if not more, to know whether the dueling powwows in Tampa and Charlotte will have moved the needle at all.

Both campaigns will hit the road on Friday to begin making their cases until a series of debates in October – the next major turning point in the campaign – one that could help determine the outcome of the election.

On Friday, Obama and Biden will campaign together in both Iowa and New Hampshire, two key swing states that their ticket won in 2008.

Romney, meanwhile, will campaign in New Hampshire while vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan campaigns in Nevada.

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Democrats gather in Charlotte, N.C., to officially nominate President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – President Barack Obama will ask voters for another four years in office tonight, arguing that he needs more time in order to fully address some of the nation’s deepest-rooted problems.

 “I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy. I never have. You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear,” Obama will say tonight at the Democratic National Convention, according to excerpts released by his campaign.

“You elected me to tell you the truth. And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades,” he will add.

Related: Obama faces another defining convention speech

The president’s pitch seems, in part, to acknowledge voters’ disappointment that the “change” Obama had promised to bring about during his 2008 campaign had come slowly, something the president himself often notes on the campaign trail.

But as Republicans continue to argue this week that voters today are no better off than when Obama took office, Obama will lay out elements of a second-term agenda he would seek if re-elected.

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

Among Obama’s promises would be a $4 trillion reduction in the deficit over the next decade, and creating 1 million new manufacturing jobs by the end of his second term. Obama will also call for halving net oil imports by 2020 and cutting the growth rate of college tuition in half over the next 10 years, too.

It’s not clear whether Obama will offer much detail as to how he might accomplish these proposals, especially since tonight’s speech is essentially a political one. The preview offered by his campaign says, though, that savings associated with ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would be re-invested in the economy.

“But know this, America: Our problems can be solved. Our challenges can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And I’m asking you to choose that future,” Obama will say. “That’s what we can do in the next four years, and that’s why I’m running for a second term as president of the United States.”

Updated 6:40 p.m. - CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Sen. John Kerry will launch a broadside against Mitt Romney this evening on an issue -- foreign policy -- that has largely taken a backseat to a weeklong focus on the economy.

Jason Reed / REUTERS

Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry, D-Ma., stands at the podium during a walk through of the stage area ahead of the second session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 5, 2012.

Kerry, the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will cast GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's foreign policy as either incomprehensible or a retread of the Bush administration.

Recommended: Obama faces another defining convention speech

"In this campaign, we have a fundamental choice: Will we protect our country and our allies, advance our interests and ideals, do battle where we must, and make peace where we can?" Kerry will say, according to advance excerpts of his speech. "Or will we entrust our place in the world to someone who just hasn't learned the lessons of the last decade?" 

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

Democrats have criticized Romney for barely referencing foreign policy in his nomination acceptance speech last week in Tampa, making no reference at all to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that stretched must of the last decade. (Romney has defended himself by pointing to remarks he delivered the day before that focused largely on issues of foreign policy and national security.)

Ahead of tonight's speeches, the Romney campaign argued Thursday would be an excercise in rewriting history in Obama's record.

"An inventory of his record shows that by nearly all measures, President Obama has diminished American influence abroad and compromised our interests and values," wrote Romney policy director Lanhee Chen.

Foreign policy hasn't been at the forefront of this week's Democratic National Convention, but Kerry will look to turn the spotlight tonight to that issue, on which Obama owns an advantage over Romney in the polls.

Recommended: Booker hints at 2013 run for New Jersey governor

Kerry will take aim at two of Romney's central criticisms of Obama in the speech, relating to Israel and the management of the war in Afghanistan. (Romney has accused Obama of throwing Israel "under the bus," and has criticized Obama's timetable for withdrawing from Afghanistan too dangerous, though Romney wouldn't keep a full level of troops there for that much longer.)

Video: Giffords leads Pledge of Allegiance at DNC

"Barack Obama promised always to stand with Israel -- to tighten sanctions on Iran and take nothing off the table. Again and again the other side has lied about where this President stands and what this President has done," Kerry will say.

On Afghanistan, the Massachusetts senator (and potential future secretary of state in the Obama administration) will say: "It isn’t fair to say Mitt Romney doesn’t have a position on Afghanistan. He has every position."

Jason Reed / REUTERS

Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker addresses delegates during the first session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 4, 2012.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Newark Mayor Cory Booker on Thursday gave another hint that his political future could involve a run for governor in the Garden State.

The New Jersey Democrat assured the LGBT caucus (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) gathered here at the Democratic National Convention that a marriage-equality bill would soon pass in the state, and it could be his signature that enacts it into law.  

Recommended: With unique place in presidential politics, Biden to take the stage in Charlotte 

"I’m telling you right now, it’s not a matter of if we’re going to win marriage-equality in New Jersey," Booker said. "It’s a matter of when we’re going to win it. And I know in my heart of hearts, if God is willing, I will be there on that day that bill is signed. I might even have a very good seat when it gets done.”

Recommended: Obama apologizes to supporters for venue move

In recent months, rumors have swirled that Booker could be interested in facing off against current New Jersey governor and rising star of the Republican party, Chris Christie. The men are friendly -- and even made a parody YouTube video together earlier this year -- but Booker's remark today may be further proof that the prominent mayor would not back down from squaring off against Christie.

During the DNC this week, Booker's name has even been mentioned as a possible contender for the White House in 2016, though that would be a difficult thing to pull off. If he were to win the governorship -- no easy task against a so far fairly popular Christie -- he would only be in office a year and a half before he would have to start campaigning for the Democratic presidential primary.

Recommended: Bill Clinton steps up to lay out the case for Obama, Democrats 

It would also be crass for Booker to appear to be looking like he was thinking about running for president and leaving the job of governor even before he had it. 

Booker has spoken to the delegations of important primary and caucus states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Booker was swarmed by admiring Democrats after his speech to Granite State delegates Thursday morning, hoping for pictures and a chance to shake his hand.

Video: Giffords leads Pledge of Allegiance at DNC

Booker was even more well received later Thursday when he spoke to the LGBT caucus.

"I'm at home," he said to thunderous applause when he took the stage. "When it comes to movements for justice in the United States of America, this room is full of heroes each and every one of you.”

Recommended: Warren attacks 'rigged' political, economic system

He related the struggles of African Americans, Irish and Jews to the hurdles the gay community now faces.

"Hatred is hatred," Booker said. "Bigotry is bigotry. And we need to wake up America to understand that inequality is inequality. Every person who says I am a citizen of the United States of America should have equal citizenship rights."

Booker took the stage shortly after Second Lady Jill Biden, who had similar praise for President Obama's support for gay rights.

CONCORD, N.H. -- Count GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney among those not planning to tune in for President Obama's nomination acceptance speech tonight. 

Romney told reporters today he has not been watching the Democratic convention, and didn't plan to start tonight -- unless the president planned to report on promises made in 2008, rather than conduct what Romney referred to as a "promises reset."

Recommend: With unique place in presidential politics, Biden to take the stage in Charlotte 

"I think this is a time not for him to start restating new promises, but to report on the promises he made. I think he wants a promises reset. We want a report on the promises he made," Romney said after ticking off a list of what he considered to be Obama's broken promises, including tackling the national debt and boosting job creation.

"The president needs to report tonight on his promises, rather than try and reset a whole series of new promises that he also won't be able to keep," he continued.

Related: Romney camp dismisses Clinton as 'good soldier'

The unannounced appearance today by Romney at a veteran's event staged by his campaign -- his second semi-public "drop by" in the battleground Granite State -- included Romney briefly addressing vets gathered to phone bank on his campaign bus. He later talked to a pooled group of reporters and took a handful of questions.

Among the questions Romney faced: Why did he choose not to mention the war in Afghanistan during his own acceptance speech last week? Romney parried, saying he addressed the issue the day before, to an albeit much smaller audience, at the American Legion national convention in Indianapolis. 

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

And he said the word "Afghanistan" just once in that speech.

Then Romney took a swipe at Obama for not also addressing the group. "The president was also invited to the American legion, and uh, he was too busy to go," Romney said. "It was during my convention. I went to the American Legion, described my views with regards to our military, our commitment to the military -- my commitment to our men and women in uniform."

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In a conference call with some of the supporters shut out of his acceptance speech due to weather, President Obama expressed his regret over having to relocate the speech inside. But he urged his supporters to not let the weather concerns get them down and to “roll with it.”

Recommended: Romney camp dismisses Clinton as 'good soldier'

The campaign held the call as a consolation effort for the 65,000 grassroots supporters who lost their “community credentials” to the president’s speech Thursday night after it was relocated from the larger, outdoor Bank of America Stadium to the Time Warner Cable Arena due to projections of inclement weather.  “My main message is: We can’t let a little thunder and lightning get us down. We’re going to have to roll with it,” he said.  

The latest hour-by-hour projections by Weather.com show a very strong chance of thunderstorms in Charlotte on Thursday afternoon. 

Many of these ticketholders had earned their credentials by volunteering a specific amount of hours. But the president said he and his staff could not fathom putting volunteers and other supporters in harm’s way.  “The problem was a safety issue,” he said. “It would have been a problem and we would have had a situation where we were putting you guys at risk. I know it’s disappointing,” he said.

Related: Four challenges for Obama

The president also said that he hoped to continue the momentum of the previous two nights of the convention, which he called “unbelievable, citing a few speakers in particula -- his wife Michelle, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, and former President Bill Clinton. Obama said Clinton, with whom he shared an onstage hug after his speech, “broke down the issues as effectively as anybody.”  

The president also used the occasion of the call to plug voter registration efforts in North Carolina, a state whose 15 electoral votes Obama campaign is battling hard to win again in 2012. “North Carolina is Exhibit A of the unbelievable work that’s being done at the grassroots level; you guys are blowing it out when it comes to registering voters,” he said.  

Republicans have pilloried the Democrats for moving the speech inside, saying the decision was driven not by the weather but by low voter enthusiasm that might have led to empty seats.  

But campaign manager Jim Messina pushed back on that notion before the president got on the call, telling the supporters that the evening would have been “standing room only, it would have been an amazing night but safety has to be always the No.1.” 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Despite Bill Clinton's rousing defense of President Obama last night at the Democratic National Convention, the Romney campaign is doubling down on trying to use the former president to its advantage.

In a new video, the campaign dismisses Clinton's endorsement of Obama now as merely him being a "good soldier." It then cuts to video from the hotly contested 2008 primary battle between Hillary Clinton -- Bill's wife -- and Obama, when Clinton said, "Give me a break. This whole thing's the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen."

Recommended: Four challenges for Obama

It's unclear where or if the ad is running. The campaign did not immediately respond to an email on where the ad may run and rarely shares any guidance on its TV strategy. If it does run, it would be the first TV ad for the Romney campaign in more than a week and comes on the heels of the Romney campaign's $4.5 million TV buy made today and first reported by First Read.

The Romney campaign has been invoking Clinton on the campaign trail and in advertising as a way to draw a wedge between the president and moderate Democratic voters, particularly in the industrial Midwest. 

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

But by elevating Clinton and turning him into a fair arbiter, the Romney campaign took a big risk. And last night, Clinton showed he can speak for himself, clearly. 

Here's the script of the ad:

ANNOUNCER: As the economy gets worse, Barack Obama calls on Bill Clinton to help his failing campaign.

CLINTON FROM OBAMA TV AD: “It’s about which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment. 

ANNOUNCER: He’s a good soldier helping his party’s president. But what did Bill Clinton say about Barack Obama in 2008.

CLINTON FROM 2008: “Give me a break. This whole thing’s the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.”

ANNOUNCER: 23 million Americans struggling for work. The middle class falls further behind.

CLINTON VOICE FROM 2008: Give me a break. I’m Mitt Romney, and I approve this message.

Obama’s four challenges tonight… Clinton comes to the president’s defense… He also praises Bush, while lashing out at “hate” of GOP… The danger of the Romney campaign elevating Clinton… Before Clinton’s speech, however, Wednesday was a day full of headaches for the Democrats… A diminished Biden… Obama camp releases “Promises Kept” video, while RNC unveils “The Breakup” ad… And Romney to do “Meet the Press” this Sunday.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After Michelle Obama’s remarks on Tuesday and Bill Clinton’s on Wednesday, we now come to President Obama’s acceptance speech, which he’ll deliver exactly two months before Election Day. Just like we did a week ago for Mitt Romney, we look at the four challenges Obama has going into tonight’s address after 10:00 pm ET. One, he needs to convince viewers that his policies are better than Romney’s to improve the economy. (While Bill Clinton made this case last night, the August NBC/WSJ poll found Romney with a six-point advantage over Obama on having good ideas to fix the economy.) Two, he needs to describe how his re-election would truly break the partisan “fever” in Washington and would be different than his first four years in office. (The same NBC/WSJ poll had Romney with a six-point edge on changing business as usual in DC.) Three, Obama needs to lay out what he could possibly achieve in a second term, and maybe even introduce a new idea. And four, as we wrote earlier this week, he needs to rekindle that enthusiasm and excitement from four years ago -- something made tougher by the move from Bank of America Stadium to the arena (though TV viewers won’t really notice the difference).

*** Clinton comes to Obama’s defense: It was just 12 years ago when Al Gore, with pretty good reason, distanced himself from Bill Clinton in the 2000 presidential election. Four years ago, Barack Obama was trying to turn the page on the Clintons and Bushes. But fast-forward to last night, when Obama arranged his convention so Americans could see him hugging Clinton. National Journal’s Fournier might have summed up Clinton’s speech the best: He did the dirty work for Obama. “Clinton branded the GOP as extremist and obstructionist and hateful… And he took the central question of Mitt Romney's campaign – ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago’ -- and turned it on its head.” Here’s what Clinton said: "No president -- not me or anyone before me -- no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years," Clinton said of the economy. But conditions are improving, and if you'll renew the president's contract you will feel it." And as Fournier adds, Clinton’s look in the past last night allows Obama to focus his speech tonight on the future.

Larry Downing / Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses a crowd at the University of Colorado Boulder, September 2, 2012.

*** I come to praise Bush, not bury him: The speech was classic Clinton -- very smart and very undisciplined -- but it was maybe less of a speech and more of a story by your favorite uncle from the South. (Was there a “g” Clinton didn’t drop last night?) And one of the more striking stories that Clinton told, at least as it might relate to political independents, was his praise of past Republican presidents, including George W. Bush. In fact, outside of Jeb, we don’t think we heard kinder words in Tampa for George W. Bush than we heard from Clinton last night. And that praise then made this critique more effective. “I never learned to hate [Republicans] the way the far right that now controls their party seems to hate President Obama and the Democrats.” For veterans of the partisan wars of the late ‘90s, it’s amazing that of all people, Bill Clinton, has become the Democratic Party’s best spokesperson to independents.

*** The danger of elevating Clinton: Clinton’s speech last night epitomized the risk the Romney campaign took when it elevated Clinton, first highlighting the former Democratic president’s comments on private equity and Bain Capital and then using Clinton in its TV ads hitting Obama on welfare. But as we’ve written before, there’s danger when you elevate someone who isn’t supporting your candidacy --you make that person seem like a fair arbiter in the contest and someone whose words carry extra weight. (Greg Sargent writes that senior Dems think Clinton “is seen by genuine undecided and swing voters as a kind of ‘referee’ figure.”) So in addition to Clinton’s defense of the past 3 ½ years and his critique of the current Republican Party, he also used his speech to play the role of fact-checker. He pointed out that modern Democratic presidents have created twice the jobs that GOP presidents had; he said that both the welfare and Medicare attacks on Obama aren’t accurate; and he stole a favorite talking point of Paul Ryan’s (“math”) and turned it against the GOP, arguing that the “arithmetic” in Romney’s budget math doesn’t add up. 

*** A day full of headaches for the Democrats: If Tuesday couldn't have been scripted better for Democrats and the Obama campaign, then Wednesday morning/afternoon could have created more headaches for the party. First, citing the weather, they decided to move tonight’s speech from Bank of America Stadium to the indoor confines of Time Warner Cable Arena. Next, after criticism from the right (and even within their own party), they did damage control by reinstating the language on Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, as well as the word “God-given,” back into their platform. (So now Republicans can joke, “Democrats were against God before they were for God.”) And when the convention tried to reinstate the language, they received boos from some of the delegates. Just ouch. That’s why Clinton’s speech was so important last night. After the very rocky start, Clinton ensured the evening ended on a high note.  By the way, don’t dismiss the Jerusalem-God controversies… We guarantee these issues will be showing up in direct mail pieces in Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida, places where either religion or Israel matter to some swing voters.  

*** A diminished Biden: And here’s one more point we want to make about Clinton last night: By defending Obama and castigating the GOP, he played the traditional role of the VP. Just think if last night had been capped by Joe Biden and not Clinton. Would the evening still have ended on a high note? There’s no doubt that Biden has been a valuable member of the administration internally, and his issue portfolio has been as big if not even bigger than Dick Cheney’s. But here’s something to keep in mind before Biden’s speech before Obama’s tonight: His stature has been a bit diminished. So you have Clinton – not Biden – delivering last night’s final speech. You have Biden speaking in the 9:00 pm ET hour tonight. And you see that Pew poll featuring a lot of negative words when asked to describe the vice president.

*** “Promises Kept” vs. “The Breakup”: In advance Obama’s acceptance speech tonight, his campaign releases a web video -- entitled “Promises kept” -- that replays his 2008 acceptance speech advocating for tax cuts for the middle class, investments and accountability in education, health care reform, equal pay for women, and the end of the Iraq war. Meanwhile, the RNC has anew TV ad (though it doesn’t say where it’s airing) that shows a woman dumping Obama as if on a date. It’s entitled “The Breakup.” 

*** Thursday’s convention schedule:

7:00 pm ET hour: Obama Campaign Manager Jim Messina, Antonio Villaraigosa, Beau Biden (who places his father’s name into nomination), Tammy Baldwin
8:00 pm hour: Caroline Kennedy, John Lewis, Jennifer Granholm, Eva Longoria, Brian Schweitzer, Charlie Crist, John Kerry
9:00 pm hour: Jill Biden, Joe Biden
10:00 pm hour: Dick Durbin, Barack Obama

*** Romney to appear on “Meet”: Lastly, we want to note that NBC’s David Gregory will interview Mitt Romney on “Meet the Press” this Sunday. It’s Romney’s first MTP interview since 2009.

Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 27 days
Countdown to VP debate: 35 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 40 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 46 days
Countdown to Election Day: 61 days

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Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images

Democrats gather in Charlotte, N.C., to officially nominate President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow

“President Obama and his Republican opponents have fought to a draw for nearly four years over the best way to fix the economy. On Wednesday, Obama turned to the Democratic Party's explainer-in-chief to win the argument: Bill Clinton,” USA Today writes. “The former president did what he does best. He made the case for a Democratic-style economic revival based on investments in individuals and innovation. He stood up for the man who defeated his wife four years ago and stated the case against Mitt Romney better than anyone else has been able to do. For 48 minutes, he delivered a stunning tour de force that had delegates on their feet.”

Politico’s Haberman: Hurricane Bill made landfall here Wednesday night. Former President Clinton’s stem-winder at the Time Warner Arena ran longer than his infamous 1988 convention keynote speech as he urged voters to give President Barack Obama a second chance in office. In classic Clinton style, the 48-minute nominating address frequently digressed from the script, the teleprompter freezing as the 42nd president ticked off statistics and improvised lines about Paul Ryan’s ‘brass’ and the signal his wife and Obama have sent about avoiding politics as a ‘bloodsport.’ He easily blew past the 11 p.m. prime-time TV cut-off, but the networks stayed with him. In his speech, Clinton was clearly, if indulgently, enjoying himself in a way that Obama rarely seems to, as he prosecuted the case on the 44th president’s behalf in less than an hour better than the Oval Office occupant has been able to over the last two years The crowd went wild repeatedly. It was a display of political force that underscored what a singular figure Clinton is in American politics, in either party.”

The Boston Globe: “Former president Bill Clinton, in a fiery nominating speech Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention, mixed passion, policy detail, and humor with an urgent plea for Americans to stay the course with President Obama, who made a surprise appearance by joining Clinton on stage after his speech. Following a booming welcome from 20,000 delegates and guests, Clinton turned the tables on a familiar Republican critique of the president — that the country is worse off than in 2008 — by making a forceful argument that the reverse is true.”

AP: “Obama, Clinton seal alliance with bow, bear hug.” From the story: “[T]hey didn’t milk the moment. After just 60 seconds, they walked off the stage together, both smiling, Obama with his hand still clasping Clinton’s shoulder. On the convention floor, several former Clinton aides hugged and slapped high-fives.”

“Former President Clinton, once again in the political spotlight, electrified the Democratic National Convention Wednesday by passionately proclaiming that four more years of President Obama is the best choice for America’s future,” the New York Daily News writes.

“A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted prior to both political party conventions finds former President Bill Clinton with a 69% favorable rating -- a personal best spanning his presidential and post-presidential years,” Political Wire writes.

The Globe’s Johnson: “Elizabeth Warren used a national audience Wednesday night to deliver a campaign message that has hit a roadblock back at home. The Harvard Law School professor and US Senate candidate tried to boost President Obama’s reelection prospects at the Democratic National Convention by talking about his commitment to her pet cause: creating a consumer watchdog agency, most especially in the aftermath of the 2008 economic collapse. In doing so, Warren promoted Obama’s concern for a key political demographic, the struggling middle class. But she also connected herself to a still-popular political figure in Massachusetts while trying to stave off the prospect of ticket-splitting voters in her approaching Election Day showdown with Republican Senator Scott Brown.”

“Folksy and loose, passionate and sometimes off script, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrives onstage Thursday night as the president’s most important political partner, policy enforcer, conscience, scold and occasional albatross,” the New York Times writes, adding, “[I]f the president’s campaign strategists are counting on Mr. Biden to woo working-class white voters in Midwest battleground states, they also know a certain creative destruction comes with the territory… On Thursday evening, at least, it is reasonably certain Mr. Biden’s script has been well scrubbed and he will stick to it, as he did four years ago when he talked about his roots and the perils of Republican rule. Bumped out of his own night in the spotlight by former President Bill Clinton, Mr. Biden will introduce Mr. Obama before all of the broadcast networks tune in (NBC will show it; CBS and ABC will not). His role in his 25-minute address, aides said, is to validate Mr. Obama the president, much as Michelle Obama validated Mr. Obama the family man.”

“Republicans freely made fun of Vice President Biden at last week's Republican National Convention in Tampa. Biden's speech here tonight could go a long way toward giving him the last laugh,” USA Today writes, adding, “Biden has two main tasks: to recount the many economic and foreign-policy challenges Obama has tackled during his term, and to renounce the solutions being proposed by Romney and Ryan. There is another opportunity, but it's one the vice president won't discuss, at least not in public and not until after the election: to show he could be a serious contender for the Democrats' presidential nomination in 2016, when he'll be 73 years old.”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Democrats formally nominated President Barack Obama for a second term following a rousing speech from former President Bill Clinton casting Obama as a centrist dealmaker and a candidate who did his best to avert a recession.

Clinton, one of the most popular figures in American politics today, delivered a speech portraying his fellow Democrat as a well-intentioned moderate who was spurned by Republicans throughout the past four years – following the trail first blazed by Clinton in the 1990s.

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

Almost seemingly responding to Republicans’ use of a well-worn argument in recent days, asking whether Americans are better off today than they were four years ago, when Obama was elected, Clinton said the answer was a definitive “yes.”

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Former President Bill Clinton speaks on stage during day two of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena on September 5, 2012 in Charlotte, N.C.

“Are we where we want to be today? No. Is the president satisfied? Of course not,” Clinton said. “But are we better off than we were when he took office?” The crowd replied with shouts of yes. 

Of the precarious economic situation Obama faced upon assuming office, Clinton added that “no one could have repaired all the damage he found in just four years.”

The speech by Clinton, a former adversary of Obama’s when his wife, Hillary Clinton was competing against Obama for the 2008 Democratic nomination, drew one of the most energetic responses of the second day of the Democratic National Convention.

At the outset of his speech, Clinton also formally entered Obama’s name up for the Democratic presidential nomination, something that the convention officially ratified in a state-by-state roll call vote early Thursday morning.

Obama himself joined Clinton onstage shortly after the conclusion of his speech, which had to battle a marquee, prime-time opening-night NFL matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants across the television dial.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has repeatedly referenced the former Democratic president on the campaign trail, in order to argue that Obama has governed well to the left of Clinton, whose centrism was a core element of his political identity.

Clinton indirectly rebuffed that by painting the president as an actor who genuinely sought compromise.

“One of the main reasons America should re-elect President Obama is that he is still committed to constructive cooperation,” said Clinton.

And Clinton on Wednesday evening rejected Romney’s proposals as inconsistent and fiscally unsound.

Of Romney’s balanced budget proposals, Clinton said: “The Romney plan fails the first test of fiscal responsibility; the numbers don’t add up.”

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Former President Bill Clinton hugs President Barack Obama on stage during day two of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena on September 5, 2012 in Charlotte, N.C.

The former president’s speech was the highlight of second day of the Democratic National Convention that seemed to largely chug along at a lower energy level than Tuesday’s opening festivities, when speakers led the audience in call-and-response cheers, and speeches by San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and first lady Michelle Obama won multiple ovations.

For the second night in a row, Democrats featured final speakers who took a less personal tone toward the Republican Party, a contrast to earlier speeches featuring unrelenting and aggressive attacks on the GOP. Democrats have broadcast their intention to showcase a sharp "contrast" betwen Obama and Romney during the convention, a consistent theme in Tuesday's speeches that continued into most of Wednesday.

Democrats’ Wednesday night schedule featured some re-shuffling, most notably pushing contraceptive rights activist Sandra Fluke’s speech – unabashed in its criticism of Romney and the GOP – into the prime-time slot nationally broadcast by most networks.

She said that in a Romney administration, “Your new president could be a man who stands by when a public figure tries to silence a private citizen with hateful slurs ... It would be an America in which you have a new vice president who co-sponsored a bill that would allow pregnant women to die preventable deaths in our emergency rooms.”

Fluke spoke shortly before another Democratic favorite, Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts, took the stage to deliver a strong defense of Obama.

Related:Warren attacks 'rigged' political, economic system

Warren, the Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts and a favorite of liberal activists, played on a broad sense of middle class anxiety in her speech, portraying Obama as the only antidote to voters’ hardships.

She delivered a plainly populist speech, suggesting to Americans that the deck is stacked against them – a stark contrast to the Republican message that opportunity expands as business is freed from regulation.

“People feel like the system is rigged against them. And here's the painful part: they're right. The system is rigged,” she said, adding: “We're Americans. We celebrate success. We just don't want the game to be rigged.”

She also seized on Romney’s line more than a year ago at the Iowa State Fair, in which the then-candidate said, “Corporations are people, my friend,” in response to a heckler.

“No, Gov. Romney, corporations are not people,” Warren said to rising applause from the audience. “People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters – that matters because we don't run this country for corporations, we run it for people. And that's why we need Barack Obama.”

Other speakers on Wednesday took more direct strides toward leveling specific attacks and courting specific groups of voters.

The Congressional Black Caucus chairman, Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, was one of the most memorable early speakers on Wednesday. An ordained United Methodist minister, Cleaver brought the crowd to its feet with a refrain of "Move on!" at one point marching in place to exhort fellow Democrats to work this fall for Obama.

Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, was meanwhile charged with taking on Paul Ryan, the GOP vice presidential nominee, budget panel chairman and personal friend of Van Hollen’s.

Related: Ryan tries to draw wedge between Clinton, Obama 

“If Paul Ryan was being honest, he would have pointed to that debt clock and said: 'We built that,'" said Van Hollen, referring to the clock at last week’s Republican National Convention tabulating mounting U.S. debt during the gathering in Tampa. The Maryland Democrat blamed GOP-led tax cuts and the wars overseas for exploding the size of the national debt which Obama inherited.

Van Hollen, who is playing Ryan in debate preparations with Vice President Joe Biden, added: “Congressman Ryan, America is literally in your debt.”

And AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka – one of several leaders in organized labor featured this evening – tried to portray Romney as out-of-touch, saying, “Mitt Romney doesn’t know a thing about hard work or responsibility.”

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images

Democrats gather in Charlotte, N.C., to officially nominate President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow